A famine then a feast a week apart: Gisborne senior footballers lost to South Bendigo by 68 points on June 10.
Then the Bulldogs won by a massive 204 points against BFNL wooden spoon favourite Maryborough at Gardiner Reserve on Saturday.
Maryborough was totally outclassed, but Gisborne’s confidence booster can only be assessed when they play at Strathfieldsaye this weekend, needing to win to keep faint hopes of a finals berth alive.
The 2022 premiers have a young lineup, and on Saturday champion midfielder Brad Bernacki lined up after playing with Essendon in the VFL this season.
From Calder Cannons days, Bernacki has always made football look easy, and his skills were on show once again. Five goals and a best afield performance was no realsurprise.
By half time the ‘Dogs had 14 goals on the board; there was no respite for the hapless Maryborough with the final tally being 32.25 (217) to 1.7 (13).
In addition to Bernacki, others in the ‘best’ list for Gisborne were classy midfielder Flynn Lakey, Harry Luxmoore, Matt Merrett, Luke Ellings and Liam Spear.
Strathfieldsaye demolished Kyneton at Tannery Lane on Saturday, and will be wary of Gisborne when they arrive for the round 10 encounter.
Gisborne Reserves had a field day, defeating Maryborough 18.14 to 1.2.
The Under 18s match provided a close contest, with Gisborne taking the points 9.11 to 8.5 against fourth-placed Maryborough.
There was a large crowd of loyal Bulldog supporters at Gardiner Reserve, with the club arranging a Past Players and Officials Reunion.
There was the chance to reminisce with members of Gisborne’s 2003 premiership side, coached by Mick McGuane, and the 2013 netball premiership side.
